RAX : You're evil... Also, I just used that as an example! I never confirmed anything! As for Pharos, I don't know, maybe.

MinaxMina : No, Mitsuru is cold. Makoro is... Frosty.

Raze Olypus : Yes, you are. Are you a reviewer? Then your face is automatically beautiful... That is, unless you're a prick who uses it to simply insult me without saying anything constructive.

Nightlyy : I've said this before, but Pharos is the best bro.

Ultimate Kuuga : um... was that Ziodyne supposed to do something?

Clevernameeh : A fellow Bloodlust reader, eh? Imagine my confusion; I have a story with Minako, i read a story with Hamuko, and I now have a Kotone.

Almost everyone : WHY DO YOU WANT THE LEMON SO MUCH?! Seriously, why're you all so perverted or horny or whatever! Do you guys love to torture me, is that it?! *cries in the corner... like a bitch*

So, I tried typing this on Google Docs and... Well, let's just say that, that's not going to work out. That is, unless you want to search for sentences and descriptions in the midst of technical crap that I hardly understand, and I took coding classes.


School

Makoto sat silently in his chair with the desk adjacent to his being empty as expected. Of course, this sparked curiosity and questions, most of which were quelled when Kotone's dormmates said she was sick.

Of course, Makoto, along with SEES, knew the true reason as to why she was out.

Although, something curious happened last night. Her persona's name was Eurydice, and in terms of lore, that was the wife of Orpheus.

And Orpheus was his persona. Actually, he was just one of many of the personas he had. He had literally hundreds of personas, but never saw any reason to use anything other than Thanatos/Pharos as he was by far his most powerful.

Still, Orpheus was special compared to all the others. Orpheus was the extension of the psyche of... someone else. It belonged to him, for sure, but it was born from the mind of a long dead man.

He had Orpheus and she had Eurydice... Was that a coincidence? Or was there something else involved?

Whatever the case, she was going to be out for awhile and Makoto had a good bit of time to himself. On his to-do list would be to learn what that tower was supposed to be, learn more about SEES if possible, and kill anymore of those big shadows if one decides to show it's face again.

The bell rang to signal the class' lunch break and the capped boy from a few days ago approached Makoto.

"Real shame Ko-tan is sick, huh?" Junpei sounded disappointed, he looked like he was quickly taking a shine to the new girl

"Whatever." Makoto dismissed, not really caring about her absence.

"Dude, you're cold." Junpei exaggerated a shiver to make his point

"And I said to leave me alone..." Makoto replied with the same blank face and flat tone he always had "Dude, you're bad at following directions."

"No need to be a dick man."

"I did warn you." He reminded the cap teen before getting out of his seat "And I have things to do."

Without even saying goodbye, Makoto walked out the classroom and tailed his brunette classmate in pink. He had waited a few minutes to give the two some space and had his earphones on so it didn't seem like he was trying to spy on her, but Pharos didn't have any restriction other than needing to be close to Makoto.

Eventually, they reached the Student Council Room which the brunette entered despite Makoto knowing that she wasn't a member.

Makoto leaned against the wall next to the entrance and turned to Pharos "You're turn, little guy."

Pharos nodded "At once." he said before going through the wall and listening to the students within, their voices going to Makoto almost as if they were talking through a phone.

"How long do you think she'll be out..?" That sounded like Yukari's voice

"I don't know." And that sounded like Mitsuru "Usually it's a day or two at most, but given what she had to face during her awakening..."

"She'll be fine." And that sounded like Akihiko, he seemed to be confident

"In the meantime, we should concern ourselves with that other persona user." Mitsuru said, sounding like she was the leader of this group "Just who was he?"

"He sure was powerful, though." Yukari said, being the only one who saw his power with her own eyes and felt the cold deathly aura his persona gave off

"He didn't seem like he was too interested in joining though." Akihiko pointed out, Makoto's silence and leaving of the area still fresh in his mind "And why didn't he speak?"

"More importantly, what are his motivations?" Mitsuru asked, even in voice alone she sounded like she was giving off a professional and mature vibe "He may have taken care of the shadow, but he didn't seem like he cared about anyone else's well being."

"Tch, just who is he?!" Mitsuru sounded agitated

It was then that Pharos returned to his friend "They sound frustrated over your sudden appearance and subsequent disappearance."

Makoto shrugged, not really caring "They can think what they want."

Pharos then smiled mischievously "And did you know that Yukari-chan likes to wear pink and Mitsuru-san likes to wear black?"

"Well, with Yukari that's-" Makoto paused as he realized just why Pharos was smiling "That... That's just wrong."

Pharos laughed at his friend's shock "But it felt so right!"

Makoto shook his head as he sighed and faced the door. Pharos' perversion aside, it was time to test their lying skills.

Makoto opened the door, surprising the members of SEES.

"Hello." He said coyly, as he walked further into the room

"Can I help you?" Mitsuru asked, confused as to why he suddenly appeared but not wanting to seem suspicious

"You all live in Kotone's dorm, right?" Makoto asked, even though he knew the answer

"That's right." Akihiko spoke up, confirming what the bluenette already knew

"So..." Makoto sat on one of the desk "Where is she?"

"Didn't you hear? She's sick!" Yukari answered, using the same excuse she used on everyone else

"Really?" Makoto played dumb "Well, I guess I should go to your dorm and tell her what she missed..."

"N-No!" Yukari objected rather strongly "I-I mean, we live in the same dorm so one of us can tell her."

Makoto narrowed his eyes as he looked at the group "I want to pay a visit."

Mitsuru stepped in "I'm afraid not. She need her rest to recover."

"I want to see for myself."

"Like Mitsuru said, she should focus on getting better." Akihiko chimed in

"Interesting..." Makoto said as he crossed his arms and legs "Tell me, what is she sick with..?"

"S-She's um..." That caught Yukari off guard, usually she just needed to say she was sick and be done with it

"She has a fever." Mitsuru stepped in, being far more prepared than the others

"What was her temperature?" Makoto asked for details "101? 102? 103?"

Mitsuru was about to speak up, but Makoto cut her off with "Ah-ah... When I count to 3, I want all of you to answer at once."

Suddenly, panicked looks appeared on all of her faces with Mitsuru's being subtle, Akihiko being somewhere in the middle, and Yukari being obvious

"He he..." Makoto chuckled quietly as he stood back on his feet "A little tip, get better at lying." he advised as he went to the door

"See ya." He gave one greeting before leaving the shocked members off SEES alone. One thing was obvious to them, there was no fooling this bluenette.


Makoto's Apartment

"He he..." Makoto chuckled to himself as he kept thinking about what happened with SEES earlier "That was fun."

"And they were no the wiser." Pharos added as he chuckled with his friend before returning to his usual demeanor "So, are we visiting the tower today?"

"I guess." Makoto answered as he fell into his bed "Wake me when it's time to go."

And with that, the bluenette rested his eyes and let himself fall under Hypnos' spell...


?

"I'm trying!" I really was... I tried my best

"Minato!" I was trying so hard... So hard... I just couldn't...

"Minato" And then... And then I...

"MINATO!"


Makoto's Apartment

"Minato!" Makoto jumped out of bed as his nightmare ended, only to realize that he was still in his room, in his apartment.

Shaking his head, he turned to his old friend "Nightmare?" he asked, showing a bit of concern

"It's nothing." Makoto dismissed as he put on the same attire he wore when he went to the dorm "Time to go."

Pharos seemed reluctant, but nodded to fulfill his friend's desire.


Streets

Makoto wandered the silent streets under the green sky. Other than his footsteps and the occasional sound of the red liquid dripping from whatever surface it was on, there wasn't a single sound in the city that could be heard.

Honestly, if this wasn't an hour that killed people, it'd seem like something out of some shitty teen romance novel that be almost physically painful to read.

Suddenly, in the alley next to him, Makoto heard a... gunshot?

Then, he heard a scream and what sounded like a body falling to the floor. Then, out of the alley, some punk kid crawled out with a bullet wound on his back. Considering it's placement and that he'd have to wait for almost a full hour, there wasn't much hope for him.

The hooded boy looked to his right and saw three other people approaching. A tall, shirtless, and pale man wielding a gun, a young man with blue hair and glasses holding a briefcase, and a girl in a gothic dress and seemed to be clutching a sketchbook of all things.

"So, another blessed one with the gift appears before us..." The pale man spoke as he smiled at the dying boy "You should feel honored, you're life has led us to a new discovery." he said before aiming his gun "Our client has wished you dead, but accept deliverance knowing that you had more purpose than most."

Another gunshot, this one killing the boy who was squirming and begging for his life.

Makoto simply titled his head "Who the hell are you?" he kept his voice a little lower and huskier than usual for the sake of anonymity

"We are merely children blessed with a divine gift." The pale man went on "We are known to most as Strega, you may call me Takaya." he turned to the others "This is Jin and Chidori."

"..." Makoto thought for a moment, he couldn't just give out his name, could he? What about- no, that was the name of a dead man... "I don't give names to strangers."

"Nor do you, child... Nor do you..." The way he said 'child' and referred to himself as one as well made it clear that he must've thought this hour was divine or something

"Hmm..." Perhaps they'd be useful for information "That tower that appears every night, what's it called?"

"You mean, The Tower Of Demise?" Takaya asked, a little surprised by the question

"Tower Of Demise?" Makoto repeated, could've used something shorter than that. That would've been nice "Good to know."

Then, Makoto began to walk away "Bye." he said casually

Takaya chucked silently "May fate allow us to cross paths again."


"Tower Of Demise"

Makoto entered the tower and observed the entrance.

This room felt deserted and the rest of the tower felt as if it was filled with Shadows.

To his right looked like some sort of transporter, likely as a means to reaching parts of the tower that one had already been to before.

To his left, it felt... off. He felt some kind of presence there, but he that's it. It was like feeling a shadow, but much more faint and he couldn't see anything.

"Weird." Makoto dismissed it, he couldn't see it so there was nothing he could do.

Makoto entered the first block of this very large tower, and lo and behold, there were tons of shadows. None of them posed any threat though, they all just cowered in fear of the boy as he just casually walked passed them as if they didn't even exist.

Makoto was about to just leave and call it a night, but then he heard the sound of rattling chains...

Makoto suddenly froze, there was only one other time in his life he'd heard the sound of chains like that.

He slowly turned around as he faced a very large shadow with chains wrapped around his torso like a cross, a bag around his head that revealed 1 bloodshot eye, A ghostly form that seemed to have almost no solid areas apart from it's head, and in each of it's hands was a long-barreled revolver.

"Incarcerator..."Unlike every other shadow that he'd ever encountered, this one actually spoke "You show yourself here, in this tower... After all of these years, you returned to your old home."

"And you are...?" Makoto asked, if he could talk then he probably had a name too

"I am the Reaper of Souls..." The shadow introduced itself "Just as you are the incarcerator of Death." The Reaper seemed to glare at Makoto "Isn't that right, Minato Ari-"

Makoto's eyes went bright blue the instant the shadow dared to utter that name and Thanatos manifested and attacked the shadow with his blade.

The Reaper was quicker than an ordinary shadow, though. With it's ghostly and seemingly weightless body, it moved out of the way of the attack.

At the same time, The Reaper took aim and fired a shot at Makoto.

The bluenette barely moved out of the way in time for the attack to miss his head.

Makoto actually chuckled, it'd been awhile since a shadow put up any meaningful resistance. As fun as the idea was, he was also pressed for time and even with Thanatos, this fight would probably take awhile.

"Kill ya next time!" Makoto said as he recalled his friend and ran up the nearest stairs.

This, was apparently the end of the block and it was seemingly blocked off for some reason.

"Huh..." Makoto was actually a little disappointed "Well, that our adventure."

"I think the barrier will lift eventually." Pharos said confidently "Until then, we should leave."

"I want that shadow dead." Makoto said as he punched the wall next to him. If he dared to call him that, then he deserved to die.

"Not yet..." Pharos tried to calm the boy "The hour is ending and we shouldn't be here when it does."

Makoto took a deep breath and thought about what his friend had said. He was right, being in here when the hour ends would probably end badly.

He exhaled before nodding to his friend and used the odd transporter to seemingly teleport back to the entrance.

Following his friend's instructions, he left just before the Dark Hour ended, with barely a second to spare.

Now, he had to leave before someone caught him and he'd get in trouble for trespassing or something.

Silently, the hooded boy cursed that shadow over and over as it's words replayed.

Minato Arisato...

That boy was dead. Long dead. He died by his family's side a long time ago. That was a name that only Pharos could call him and live to tell about it. That one-eyed bastard was going to pay dearly.

But, for now, it was a giant waiting game, this time a little longer than usual. SEES probably won't do anything without Kotone, so he'd have to wait a bit before he'd be able to learn about them.

Until then, it was a normal high-school life.

Well, as normal as it got for him anyway.


Don't call him Minato... He'll kill ya. Not all of you wonderful boys and girls, just the ones here.

Makoto met Strega... And he minded his own business and Takaya mostly minded his, not like either did anything to provoke the other.

Finally, Makoto just had a little fun with SEES. Never liked the "He/She is sick" excuse. Leaves room for error.

And don't be offended by what I said above, lemon obsessed or not, I still love each and everyone of you.

Good night/day everybody!